The railway gave easy access to Rannoch for visiting sportsmen. The late Victorian lairds of Corrour would arrive at that station from Glasgow and stay in the Lodge (now the Youth Hostel, OS NN372671) waiting for their steam yacht which would take them up Loch Ossian to Corrour Shooting Lodge (OS NN412697).
The coming of the railway brought extra revenues not only to Rannoch but also to other places on the West Highland Line. Among these was Fort William, benefiting initially as a fishing port. Later, with the aid of massive hydro power from harnessing the high rainfall of the region, the town developed a major aluminium smelting and paper making industry. Mallaig beame important as a West Coast ferry terminal and fishing port. But these developments had not been easy to achieve. Rannoch Moor's often seemingly bottomless peat created problems in obtaining a stable foundation for the railway. This was overcome by using easily available brushwood to float the permanent way over the boggy morass.
At the north end of Rannoch Station is a memorial, made by the navvies who built the railway, to Mr Renton who used his personal fortune to pay for completion of the line when the company ran out of money.
See page on Rannoch Station
